Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Seismometers put to an innovative use.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/s...

Sonic booms could be a new way to track falling space junk | CNN

Old satellites and other space junk fall toward Earth every day, and the shock waves they create could be used to track their trajectories, according to new research.

www.cnn.com

January 24, 2026 at 3:32 AM

Reposted by Tom Gill

Santiago Gassó

@sangasso.bsky.social

🧪

#IndoorDust #dust

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

attn @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Occurrence and sources of organic contaminants of emerging concern in indoor dust: A global perspective

Organic contaminants of emerging concern (OCECs) in indoor environments are receiving increasing attention due to their widespread occurrence and pote…

www.sciencedirect.com

January 22, 2026 at 3:20 PM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Heavy dust storm swept across Libya yesterday
www.cbc.ca/news/world/d...

IN PHOTOS | Libya thick with orange haze from dust storm | CBC

A heavy dust storm swept across Libya on Tuesday, reducing visibility, forcing the temporary suspension of flights at two airports and shrouding cities there with a thick orange haze.

www.cbc.ca

January 22, 2026 at 1:16 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

15 years after Fukushima, Japan prepares to restart the world’s biggest nuclear plant

A return to nuclear power is at the heart of Japan’s energy policy but, in the wake of the 2011 disaster, residents’ fears about tsunamis, earthquakes and evacuation plans remain

www.theguardian.com

January 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

California wildfire smoke exposure during pregnancy linked to autism risk in children

The new research focused on exposure to PM 2.5, tiny particles that can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

www.nbcnews.com

January 21, 2026 at 6:10 PM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.nber.org/papers/w34694

The Geography of Science

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

January 21, 2026 at 5:40 PM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Excerpts: "Generally speaking, everybody is reactionary on subjects he knows most about.... (and) If you have a lot invested in a system, you won’t want it to change. Asking a professor about AI is like asking a taxi driver to weigh in on Uber."
www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Opinion | Why Professors Fear the Future

Academic life has barely changed in 40 years. Why? The faculty likes it that way.

www.chronicle.com

January 21, 2026 at 5:12 PM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

How Satellite Data Helped Avoid Hunger from Drought eos.org/editor-highl...

How Satellite Data Helped Avoid Hunger from Drought - Eos

Satellites detecting anomalies of the spectral reflectance of crops in Uganda successfully foretold imminent crop failure and automatically triggered timely governmental disaster relief.

eos.org

January 21, 2026 at 5:32 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

UK astronomers discover mysterious iron bar inside the iconic Ring Nebula www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/uk-astronome...

UK astronomers discover mysterious iron bar inside the iconic Ring Nebula

Astronomers uncover a mysterious bar-shaped cloud of iron hidden inside the iconic Ring Nebula, revealing new clues of stellar evolution.

www.innovationnewsnetwork.com

January 21, 2026 at 5:30 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Cosmogenic krypton enables reconstruction of landscapes millions of years old
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Cosmogenic krypton enables reconstruction of landscapes millions of years old

Geoscientists from the Universities of Cologne and Göttingen develop a novel geochemical approach to analyse landscape evolution: cosmogenic krypton, a rare noble gas, provides information on how...

www.eurekalert.org

January 21, 2026 at 5:22 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.livescience.com/animals/land...

Ever watched a pet cow pick up a broom and scratch herself with it? You have now

A pet cow in Austria started using a broom to scratch herself — the first ever documented case of bovine tool use.

www.livescience.com

January 21, 2026 at 5:17 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Well, that would've been nasty.
www.earth.com/news/molybde...

Toxic gas found to have wiped out almost half of all ocean life 530 million years ago

Levels of molybdenum in soil show that hydrogen sulfide gas wiped out nearly half of all marine life 530 million years ago.

www.earth.com

January 21, 2026 at 4:15 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Well, that would've been nasty.
www.earth.com/news/molybde...

Toxic gas found to have wiped out almost half of all ocean life 530 million years ago

Levels of molybdenum in soil show that hydrogen sulfide gas wiped out nearly half of all marine life 530 million years ago.

www.earth.com

January 21, 2026 at 4:13 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

The fate of the planet’s coastlines depends on how fast Antarctica’s ice sheets melt. We don’t know what’s coming

Some regions of the continent have enough ice to push up sea levels by 15 metres if they all melt, but researchers don’t yet fully understand the consequences

www.theguardian.com

January 21, 2026 at 4:12 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Hmm. I wonder if this has anything to do with the interest in the USA taking over Greenland from the Trump Administration?

bbc.com/future/artic...

The mineral riches hiding under Greenland's ice

The treasures beneath Greenland's icy terrain have been coveted for more than a century. But as Donald Trump becomes the latest to eye this wealth, accessing them remains a challenge.

bbc.com

January 21, 2026 at 4:10 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Hmm. I wonder if this has anything to do with the interest in the USA taking over Greenland from the Trump Administration?https://bbc.com/future/article/20250121-the-enormous-challenge-of-mining-greenland?utm_campaign=EAG%20newsletter%20January%202026&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Mailjet

January 21, 2026 at 4:09 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

The research introduces the concept of a "marine darkwave": a short-term but intense episode of underwater darkness that can severely impact light-dependent marine life.
news.ucsb.edu/2026/022326/...

Scientists create a system for tracking underwater blackouts

Scientists have created the first framework to identify and compare marine blackouts, which can severely impact kelp forests, seagrass beds and other light-dependent marine life.

news.ucsb.edu

January 21, 2026 at 4:07 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

news.vt.edu/content/news...

Major river deltas are sinking faster than sea-level rise

A new study published in Nature finds human-driven land sinking now outpaces sea-level rise in many of the world’s major delta systems, threatening more than 236 million people.

news.vt.edu

January 21, 2026 at 4:04 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.wunderground.com/article/news...

From Texas To Florida (And In Between): These States Are The Lightning Kings

Lightning activity surged to an eight-year high by the end of 2025, with new regional hot spots emerging as the new “lightning capitals.”

www.wunderground.com

January 21, 2026 at 4:00 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

theconversation.com/from-bolts-t...

From bolts to blue jets, lightning comes in many strange forms

Lightning also influences our environment in ways scientists are only beginning to understand.

theconversation.com

January 21, 2026 at 3:48 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

www.livescience.com/technology/c...

Could there ever be a worldwide internet outage?

We've all dealt with bad internet connections. But could the entire internet ever collapse?

www.livescience.com

January 21, 2026 at 3:46 AM

Tom Gill

@tomgillpredicts.bsky.social

Global hydrological cycle estimates of total river flow, and anticipated changes in river flow with global warming, may be too high, study suggests. phys.org/news/2026-01...